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Shang

Shang
shäng [key] or
Yin,
dynasty of China, which ruled, according to traditional dates, from c.1766 BC to c.1122 BC or, according to some modern scholars, from c.1523 BC to c.1027 BC It is the first historic dynasty of China its legendary founder, T'ang, is said to have defeated the last
Hsia
ruler, Chieh. His successors ruled over a city-state in modern Henan prov. and may have controlled other smaller states on the North China Plain. They warred against the Huns and against the
Chou
, who finally defeated the last Shang king, Shou. Archaeological remains at one of the capitals, near modern
Anyang
, suggest (along with later records) that the Shang had a complex agricultural civilization of peasants and city-dwelling artisans, with a priestly class, nobles, and a king, who was also high priest. Shang religion was characterized by ancestor worship, sacrifices to nature deities, and divination. Stylized inscriptions on bone and bronze artifacts probably reveal the earliest examples of Chinese writing. Bronze casting under the Shang reached a height of artistic achievement rarely equaled anywhere in the world. There was a highly organized bureaucracy, and the patriarchal Chinese family system seems to have already been developed.